Background
Thernstrom, Abigail Mann was born on September 14, 1936 in New York City. Daughter of Ferdinand and Helen (Robison) Mann.
(The 1965 Voting Rights Act is the crown jewel of American...)
The 1965 Voting Rights Act is the crown jewel of American civil rights legislation. Its passage marked the death knell of the Jim Crow South. But that was the beginning, not the end, of an important debate on race and representation in American democracy. When is the distribution of political power racially fair? Who counts as a representative of black and Hispanic interests? How we answer such questions shapes our politics and public policy in profound but often unrecognized ways. The act’s original aim was simple: Give African Americans the same political opportunity enjoyed by other citizens—the chance to vote, form political coalitions, and elect the candidates of their choice. But in the racist South, it soon became clear that access to the ballot would not, by itself, provide the political opportunity the statute promised. Most southern whites were unwilling to vote for black candidates, and southern states were ready to alter electoral systems to maintain white supremacy. In this provocative book, Abigail Thernstrom argues that southern resistance to black political power began a process by which the act was radically revised both for good and ill. Congress, the courts, and the Justice Department altered the statute to ensure the election of blacks and Hispanics to legislative bodies ranging from school boards and county councils to the U.S. Congress. Proportional racial representation—equality of results rather than mere equal opportunity—became the revised aim of the act. Blacks came to be treated as politically different—entitled to inequality in the form of a unique political privilege. Majority-minority districts that reserved seats for blacks and Hispanics succeeded in integrating southern politics. By now, however, those districts may perversely limit the potential power of black officeholders. “Max-black” districts typically elect candidates to the left of most voters; those officeholders rarely win in majority-white settings. Such race-conscious districting discourages the development o
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0844742724/?tag=2022091-20
(The racial gap in academic performance between whites and...)
The racial gap in academic performance between whites and Asians, on the one hand, and Latinos and blacks, on the other hand, is America's most urgent educational problem. It is also the central civil rights issue of our time, say Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom. Unequal skills and knowledge are the main sources of ongoing racial inequality, and racial inequality is America's great unfinished business. A wide and tragic gap in learning is evident in affluent suburbs as well as inner cities. But great schools are scattered across the country, as described in inspiring detail by the Thernstroms. These schools are putting even the most highly disadvantaged children on the American ladder of economic opportunity. There are no good excuses for the perpetuation of long-standing inequalities, the Thernstroms argue eloquently. The problem can be solved, but conventional strategies will not work. Fundamental educational reform is needed. Carefully researched, accessibly written, and powerfully persuasive, this book offers both a close analysis of the current landscape and a blueprint for essential and overdue change.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074326522X/?tag=2022091-20
Thernstrom, Abigail Mann was born on September 14, 1936 in New York City. Daughter of Ferdinand and Helen (Robison) Mann.
Bachelor, Barnard College, New York City, 1958. Master of Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1961. Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975.
Lecturer Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1975-1978. Project director The Twentieth Century Fund, New York City, 1981-1986. Stringer The Economist, London, 1988-1992.
Senior fellow The Manhattan Institute, New York City, 1993—2009. Commissioner United States Commission on Civil Rights, since 2001, vice chair, since 2004. Adjunct scholar American Enterprise Institute, Washington, since 2007.
Visiting lecturer Harvard University, 1988—1989, Boston College, 1990. Adjunct professor Boston University School Education, 1991—1993. Member domestic strategy group Aspen Institute, Colorado, 1992—1997.
Member education policy committee Hudson Institute, Indianapolis, 1994—1997. Member Massachusetts State Board Education, 1995—2006, Citizen's Initiative Race & Ethnicity, 1998—2002. Member board advisors United States Election Assistance Commission, since 2006.
(The racial gap in academic performance between whites and...)
(The 1965 Voting Rights Act is the crown jewel of American...)
Member Board Education Commonwealth of Massachusetts, since 1995. Vice president Citizen's Initiativeon Race and Ethnicity, since 1998. American Political Science Association.
Married Stephan Thernstrom, January 3, 1959. Children: Melanie, Samuel.